she could have bought an ice cream cone .
.
.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj6r3-sqr58.
I remember when couples who had weddings in the kingdom hall - for a time in the UK in the 1980's and 1990's could choose "suitable music" like passages of Vivaldi's four seasons for their wedding music.
Then of course Teddy J. and his crew put a stop to that and since then it has been only "Kingdumb MAL-adies" allowed.
four years ago the watchtower made the following demand.
all of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not.
they are not content with obedience and in the upcoming june watchtower they have this to say -15. how does respect for theocratic headship reveal our love for jehovah’s way of ruling?15 what is our response to divinely authorized headship?
Funny how Hebrews 13 v 17 gets trotted out. Just ask them to read Heb 13 v 7 - 9 to get the true context of it.
(nwt 2013)
"7 Remember those who are taking the lead among you, who have spoken the word of God to you, and as you contemplate how their conduct turns out, imitate their faith.
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever.
9 Do not be led astray by various and strange teachings, for it is better for the heart to be strengthened by undeserved kindness than by foods, which do not benefit those occupied with them."
Bold italics mine.
just wanted to thank everyone so much for all your responses to my first post.
i am overwhelmed by all the replies and supportive comments that came through overnight while i was asleep here in aussie land!.
i will absolutely endeavour to reply to each one individually but it will take some time as there are a lot to go through.
Nice to hear from you again.
As a side point and as an elder did/do you find much comment or response to the ARC over there? Is it talked about behind closed doors or a select few or openly or maybe not at all?
Here in the UK quite a few local circuit heavies know about it and a few talked about it to each other on the low down.
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you do remember the four day assemblies... sitting outdoors being fried in the sweltering heat,getting heat stroke in the middle of july in an outdoor baseball stadium.sitting outdoors from 9:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. was so much fun while you wore a suit,long sleeve shirt and a tie while your brain fried.
mom's who had children to take care of,lug strollers,feed all the kids,take them for bathroom breaks and try to not faint from the heat.. the sound and audio was always breaking and barely audible from the wind,airplanes flying over and (if you attended the cicero,illinois circuit )you would smell horse manure from the horse stables next door.. you know that you are a jehovah's witness.... when the only excitement waiting for the drama... where brothers and sisters dress up in ancient cloths,fake beards,fake rocks and fake soldier uniforms and wave their hands incessantly to pretend that they are acting out a drama.the excitement was unbearable!.
When I first attended as a kid the stadium we went to had distractions. It only had seating round two sides as the opposite side just had "bleachers" - concrete steps with no roof.
I could sit high up in the main stand and look over at the railway station and shunting yards where the engines (switchers in the USA) would sort the wagons out. Also an airport was nearby so I could see a couple of planes an hour take off and land to relive the tedium.
Sadly about three years in to a ten year stretch the stadium was turned into an all-seater and I could no longer see the railway and the planes flew too low to be visaible anymore.
background:.
my parents got the “truth” while i was in primary school.
i was baptised at 14. i loved school and was extremely studious.
I was in my fifties when I truly woke up. It was all the things you mentioned and between ten and about five years ago I realised it was all a bunch of absolute crap.
I never wept for the loss of everlasting life though because I don't think I really believed in it deep down. Overlapping Generation, Child abuse policy and ARC did it finally for me.
You have a pm. Look for the green envelope next to your name.
i have had it confirmed now, that since stopping attending over 18 months ago, the elders have set out to deliberately ruin my name and character .. they have been talking to every witness from the local area and saying things like "be careful of him, he has the ability to implant thoughts in your minds, and he only pretends to be kind and caring".
so, all i have to say to them is, "bravo!
if that is the method you want to employ, you have reached the very depths of bad behaviour!".
In my opinion stuckinarut2, they're stuck in a rut too.
was there anything positive about your jehovah's witness experience?.
I didn't take up smoking or drugs. And I have no desire to now.
young elder(mid-thirties) in my congregation stepped down last night.
nicest guy, with two lovely kids, a great supportive wife.. it got to be too much, as the other elders are practically useless, let him do all the hard work, while they did all the "important" stuff.
literally ran him ragged.. he's still in good standing, gave the final prayer.
What Blondie said.
Here I am 4000 miles away in a different country and in the local congregation (75 publishers) there are at least five ex elders and a couple of ex min servs in different states of "spiritual - aka Watchtower - decay". Including me!
Good for that young elder. I hope he wakes up if he hasn't already.
so here's a link to the latest jw podcast.
in it they talk about how the organization is structuring things in australia to get out of paying money to victims of abuse.
the short version, as i remember it, is that they are making each congregation its own individual charity.
Nice find shepherdless.
welcome to the newest jehovah's witness discussion forum on the net.. please register so that you can post to the forum and turn this into a welcoming place for other brothers and sisters online
I haven't waded through 26 pages but have read the first few posts.
From little acorns might oak trees may grow.
